Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Warnings: Violence, more warnings will be added as the story continues!

A/N: Please, if you have a story that could help me a bit, leave a review! Writing this was quite a bit of a struggle as I'm not a massive Naruto fan. Thanks!

Naruto stood at the mirror in his small bathroom, applying a layer of foundation to cover the thin black lines on his cheeks.

"Naruto! Hurry up or you'll be walking!" Iruka cried from the kitchen, like most mornings he was working in the kitchen of the small Ramen restaurant they owned. On the top floor was where Iruka and Naruto lived, the bottom of it was the restaurant. Naruto pulled on a tight white shirt over his tanned skin and the seal mark on his stomach keeping the disastrous Kyuubi locked inside him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm coming!" Naruto shouted back, pulling on an orange and black jacket and running downstairs. Kakashi-sensei sat at a table, chatting away with Iruka, smiling and occasionally blushing.

"Ah, Naruto. Good morning, how're you today?" Kakashi asked, letting go of Iruka's hand that he was holding underneath the table.
"Hey, Kakashi. Eh, I'm good. But I have to get to the train station in the next five minutes or I'm gunna be late for school. So, i will talk to you this afternoon? Or, are you teaching today?" Naruto asked, ignoring Iruka and Kakashi holding hands, it was sort of noticeable that they had feelings for each other anyway.
"Yeah. I'm teaching, but I won't be in 'till after recess. See you then?" Kakashi asked, fiddling with a napkin.
"Sure." Naruto replied before walking out the door.

The station was at the end of Naruto's street, it was only a short walk. But Naruto enjoyed the smallest things on his walk. The slight morning dew still clung lightly to the grass; tiny little sparkling specks caught his eye as he was walked down the cracked path.

Much like every other morning, Gaara was at the station, too. Standing there with his arms crossed, thick black eyeliner circling his eyes and his blood red hair standing up in many different directions.

"Morning, Gaara." Naruto said as he sat down.
"Hey, have you seen Sasuke? He hasn't been here all week." Gaara replied.
"Nope. I've been away with Iruka; he took me on a camping trip." Naruto replied.
"Oh. Well, nobody has seen him since last Friday. We just got an art assignment and I don't want him to miss it, it's worth half our grade." Gaara told him.
"I'll go visit him this afternoon," Naruto replied, looking in his bag "Shit! I forgot my timetable! What do you have first period?"
"Art. We're just starting the mural on who means the most to us. It's kind of like our role-model." Gaara replied.
"Oh, then I would have Music." Naruto's eyes light up. One of his passions was music.
"What is your next gig with that?" Gaara asked, turning to face Naruto.
"I have to sing a love song in front of the school at Monday's assembly." Naruto blushed.
"What song are you doing?" Gaara asked, more interested now.
"Um. I was thinking of Taylor Swift's 'Tear Drops on My Guitar', it would fit the situation perfectly." Naruto replied, excited.
"Oh, awesome. Here's our train." Gaara said, stepping forward towards the tracks.

A loud rumble came with the train as it approached the station, getting louder as it neared. Naruto stepped on the train after Gaara, finding a seat and sitting down. Naruto's phone vibrated in his pocked, the caller ID read 'Sasuke'.

"Sasuke? What? I can't understand you! Calm down!" Naruto cried, an old lady looked his direction with a scornful look.
"I need to see you." Sasuke choked between sobs.
"Okay. I'll be there in a minute; I'm just on the train." Naruto pressed the red button on his phone, ending the call; the pit of his stomach felt like someone had just dropped a boulder in it.

"What's going on, Naruto?" Gaara said, sitting up.
"Sasuke's... Um, well I don't know. Sasuke was just on the phone... crying."
"I didn't even think Sasuke know how to cry." Gaara joked, Naruto just looked at him.
"I'm getting off next stop; I need to see if he's okay." Naruto said, picking up his things.
"I'll let Kakashi-Sensei know." Gaara said as he nodded quickly.
"Thanks." Naruto shot back at he stepped off the train.

******

Sasuke sat on the floor in his room in front of his bed, tears relentlessly running down his cheeks. Before this week had started, he wasn't sure if he even had tears anymore. The curtains were pulled shut, leaving his room dark and eerie. Sasuke's eyes were locked on the ground and had been for the past week. The closest thing in Sasuke's reach was a kunai, the only thing that could protect him. Sasuke bit the inside of his mouth, making him bleed.

There was a loud knock on his bedroom door, followed by the icy, death-like voice of his brother, Itachi.

"Sasuke?"
"Fuck off!" Sasuke cried, proving himself wrong again when more tears started flowing, even heavier this time.
"Whoa, whoa. I was just letting you know Naruto is here, fuck!" Itachi replied.

Sasuke heard murmuring before Naruto knocked and said it was him. The door inched open, Naruto peaked stuck his head around it, seeing the mess that was Sasuke.

"My god! Sasuke, what happened? You're a mess!" Naruto closed, closing the door and running to his side.

Sasuke just shed more tears, not even looking up.

"D-did something happen with Sakura? Last I heard you two were great. One of the happiest couples in Konoha?" asked Naruto again, pulling Sasuke into his arms.

Sasuke shook his head, telling Naruto that wasn't what was wrong. He just pushed his face into Naruto's shirt, his hand in tiny balls, one on Naruto's collarbone, and the other at his waist. Naruto rubbed Sasuke's back in small circles, making hushing sounds, trying to calm Sasuke down enough to enable him to talk.

"What happened? You're a mess, your mouth is bleeding and yours lips are cut. What's going on?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke tried to say 'Itachi', but it came out more like 'Iyayi'.
"I'm sorry... I missed that. What did you say?" Naruto asked, his voice quaked.

Naruto noticed a packet a cigarettes sitting next to the bed; he picked them up and asked Sasuke if he could have one, to only get a nod in reply. Naruto light the cigarette and almost coughed his lungs out. He was a smoker, but he smoked tobacco.

"Sasuke, why am I smoking marijuana and not tobacco?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke left the warmth of Naruto and sat face to face with him. His eyes were big and red, his cheeks stained with the evidence of tears, his face was almost pleading for Naruto not to hit him.

"You know what, Sasuke? Call me when you're fucking sober!" Naruto cried before standing and storming out of the room. Sasuke burst into tears once more.

******

Naruto sat at the station once more, his head in his hands when his phone rang, a text message from Iruka.

'You better get your ass to school. Kakashi just called and told me you were absent. Go there, NOW!' It said, Naruto sighed, trying to decide what to do next. Pressing the dial button on his phone, he called Iruka.

"Iruka," Naruto whispered, "Can I come home? I wasn't wagging for nothing, you know I'm not like that.."
"I know, you can come home but I want an explanation the second you walk in this door." Iruka replied, ending the call.

Naruto caught the next train, sitting his head heavily on the window next to him, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple. In his mind he pictured Sasuke hunched against his bed and the stains on his face from crying.

******

"What did you tell him?" Itachi's ice cold voice said, the long cloak he wore sat just millimetres above the floorboards, giving the illusion that he was floating.
"I asked you a question." He said calmly, taking a step forward.
"I-I n-nothing." Sasuke stammered, looking up to see Itachi's eyes change from their pale darkness to the gleaming red Sharingan.
"Why must you lie to me, little brother?" Itachi asked, his voice getting colder with every word that escaped those thin lips.
"I-I-I'm not lying! P-please, Itachi! Don't hurt me anymore!" Sasuke felt pathetic pleading with his brother.
"Okay then. I'll come back when you feel like talking, or screaming. Whichever it comes down to." Itachi said as he kicked Sasuke in the mouth, blood pouring down his chin and onto the deep blue shirt he wore. Sasuke cried in pain, clutching his face.

******

Naruto walked in the door of the Uchi Uchi Restaurant, only to meet Iruka who instantly asked questions.

"Look, Iruka. I don't mean any disrespect to you, but I honestly cannot tell you why I'm not at school." Naruto said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.
"I trust you, Naruto. Just tell me." Iruka said, shifting in his seat.
"Then trust that I can't tell you until I understand what is happening, because sure as hell right now I don't." Naruto replied, getting up and walking upstairs and into his room and collapsing in the bed. He rolled over, having a staring competition with the ceiling, the thoughts racing through his head.

'Should I have left him like that? Even though he is using drugs? Maybe if I had of stayed... Maybe, if I stayed, he would have opened up and I could have helped him...'

The thoughts swirling in his head made him drowsy, soon he was asleep. Not for long, though. Iruka woke him up not five minutes after he'd fallen asleep.

"Naruto, Itachi is on the phone, he says it's about Sasuke?" Iruka said, passing him the phone before leaving.

"Hello, Naruto." Itachi's calm voice came from the other end of the line.
"Hey. Why are you calling me?" Naruto asked, sitting up in bed.
Itachi's cold laughter reached Naruto's ears, it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"I was wondering, did Sasuke say anything to you today? As to why he hasn't left his room for the past week? I'm... Worried." Itachi lied, knowing full well why Sasuke was in his room crying like a pathetic child who wanted their teddy back after realising six months after it had lost it that it was gone.
"Ah. No, he didn't, sorry. But, if you find out, could you please let me know?" Naruto asked.
"Sure." Itachi replied before the ending the call.

Naruto threw his phone to the end of the bed, sitting up and realising how hungry he was. He desperately wanted to know what was up with Sasuke, even more so now after even Itachi calling him. Itachi was never worried about Sasuke. He hated not knowing things, he remembered as a kid, he would have been about eight or nine years old, Iruka had planned a surprise birthday party for him, and he went insane they day it happened because Iruka wouldn't tell him where they were going.

The images his mind had created of Sasuke were ten times worse then what he had actually seen. It was only a cut lip, a bruise on the side of his face and grazed knuckles.

'And that was only on the parts of him that I could see..'

Naruto's phone rang once more, the caller ID reading 'Sasuke', again.

"You sober or what?" Naruto said, not trying to hide the harsh tone he used.

No reply. All he heard was Itachi's voice, about a hundred times colder than before when he had spoken to him before, but this time his voice was more distant.

"What did you tell him, little brother? I demand to know!" Itachi said, a few low whimpers that belonged to Sasuke followed.
"Sasuke?! What's going on?!" Naruto cried into the phone, he fingers beginning the tremble.

There was a loud crackling sound that pierced Naruto's ear, then Itachi's voice.

"Naruto, sorry about that. I'm trying to get what's wrong out of Sasuke..." Itachi breathed.
"Oh. Well, I have to practice for assembly on Monday, I'm playing a song. Please tell Sasuke to come to school, I'm really worried about him." Naruto confessed.
"Sure," Itachi said, his voice staying calm even when as he stomped on Sasuke's hand "I'll be sure to let him know. Goodbye, Naruto." He said before ending the call.

Naruto pulled his guitar out of the cupboard next to his bed, and began to sing.

"He looks at me
I fake a smile so he won't see
What I want and I need
And everything that we should be

I'll bet she's beautiful
That girl he talks about
And she's got everything
That I have to live without-"

Suddenly it dawned on him like the light in his world has just suddenly been flicked on. Naruto snapped his head up in shock of realising one of the most confusing things in his life, although before he hadn't noticed it. He had chosen this particular song for a reason, just sub-consciously.

******

Sakura sat on the swings behind the old school, slightly swinging, and her cherry-blossom hair swayed back and forth with the small breeze. She pulled her Hiptop (A/N: I don't own Hiptop, it is registered for Telstra. Also, a Hiptop is a mobile phone) out of her bra, checking her text messages. Two from TenTen and one from Lee. Sasuke had stood her up, again, for the second time this week.

******

This is my very first Naruto fic, please review, it would make me very happy. If I don't get enough reviews I'll quit writing Naruto Fanfics and go back Naruto, so, please, tell me what you think, even if it's bad!